Genesis 34:12

“Ask me never so much dowry and gift, etc.] Or “multiply [them] exceedingly” f1567, fix them at as high a rate as may be thought fit; the “dowry” was what a man gave to a woman at her marriage; for in those times and countries, instead of a man having a portion with his wife, as with us in our times, he gave one to his wife, or to her parents for her; and especially in after times this was used, and became a law in Israel, in the case of a vitiated virgin, (see <022216>Exodus 22:16,17); and “the gift” was either of jewels and clothes to the women, or of such like precious things to her brethren and friends, (see <012453>Genesis 24:53); and I will give according as ye shall say unto me;…”

“Ask me never so much dowry and gift--The gift refers to the presents made at betrothal, both to the bride elect and her relations (compare Gen 24:53), the dowry to a suitable settlement upon her.”

“- Dinah’s Dishonor This chapter records the rape of Dinah and the revenge of her brothers. Genesis 34:1-5 Dinah went out to see the daughters of the land. The Jewish doctors of a later period fix the marriageable age of a female at twelve years and a day. It is probable that Dinah was in her thirteenth year when she went out to visit the daughters of the land. Six or seven years, therefore, must have been spent by Jacob between Sukkoth, where he abode some time, and the neighborhood of Shekerm, where he had purchased a piece of ground. If we suppose Dinah to have been born in the same year with Joseph, who was in his seventeenth year at the time of his being sold as a bondslave Genesis 37:2,…”